Dilema!!!

[cmuhooligan]

Hey all:

Okay, well I have quite the situation on my hands, maybe you guys can give me some insight/advice. So in only my first 3 weeks of school, I have already been looking into thesis ideas, and my general area of interest is GLBT issues, specifically the coming out process. Now there are no profs at my school that research this area per se, but when i interviewd i was assured this would not be a problem. Well today rolls around and i have a meeting with the clinical director and i tell him of my ideas, and my aspirations (e.g. an academic career) and he basically tells me that I will not get an academic career if i conitnue to pursue this line of research because, the faculty do not have an interest in it, but that i could get by doing a thesis and disertation on it, its just that i wouldnt get the added extra research i would need to get an academic position, so he gave me two alternatives if i want to pursue an academic career, A.) I should change my research interests to that of one of the more research based faculty members, or B.) transfer to a school where I can work under someone who actually has the same interests. I couldnt believe this, i really dont want to do either, i mean i bough a house here im settled, i like the program with the exception of what happened today, and transfering is incredibly hard to do from what ive heard. so any thoughts? I know if i stick with my passion, and research GLBT, i will only have 2 pubs when my time is through, what should i do?

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[Roxy]

I would recommend contacting faculty that share your interests in other programs for suggestions. They should have more knowledge about academic opportunities in this area and should be able to advise you as to what it takes to succeed. GLBT issues are a fairly specialized research area and someone in the field will probably have more realistic insight than your current clinical director. One person I would recommend contacting is Dr. Laura Brown at Argosy's Seattle campus. She is a renowned Feminist therapist who does reseach on normative assessments in the GLBT population. I've spoken with her before and she was very helpful. Good luck!

 

[Sanman]

You should try and speak to faculty at other schools and see if they would be willing to let you collaborate on some projects. Otherwise, You may want to take on another research focus that is closer to a faculty area to allow you to gain more publications, while doing a thesis and diss. on gblt issues. It is not ideal for sure, but it does happen. Yoiu can always concentrate more on that later in your career.

 

[psych101]

Sounds kind of familiar....the program I chose was quite a different environment than what was presented during the interview process. Oh, the promises they make to convince you to attend...Sucks since you spend so much time trying to base your decision on where to attend by how well you think you'll fit in with the program and then it turns out to be different than you thought. Anyway, based on my own experiences, it can be critical to do something that fits with faculty's existing research in order to have adequate support during the thesis and dissertation process. And even if you try to pick a topic that you think fits their existing interests, it often ends up that the opinions and interests of your chair and committee members still shape that project into being something very different than what you originally meant for it to be. I guess what I'm saying is try to pick something you can tolerate (since you will spending inordinate amounts of time on it) but also be willing to be flexible and don't frustrate yourself by trying to pick the best project in the world. For the thesis and dissertation, pick something do-able (i.e., get it done as quickly as possible with the least amount of frustration --these are hurdles to jump, get them done and move on to better things) that faculty will consistently support you on. Makes it easier if they're excited about it, too. If they're giving you even the slightest clue that it might not be the best idea to venture out, heed the warning. Otherwise you're in it all alone, and that is a crappy place to find yourself. Might mean that you do the things that really interest you in your spare time (ha ha!). If you don't think you can compromise your interests, perhaps you can transfer although I've never personally known anyone to do that. Seems like it would involve going through the whole application/interview nightmare all over again, so you'd have to decide if that's worth it. I bet there's a way you could stay in your current program, choose thesis & dissertation topics that interest faculty (and work with their labs to get additional publications), and still do other research (e.g., posters, presentations, lit review papers) on the topics that truly interest you. It's a lot to balance, but knowing that you want an academic career helps alleviate the presure that other students feel to be racking up therapy hours. At least you're in a program that you're somewhat satisfied with, and will end up with the degree that will ultimately help you do what you want career-wise. Just keep focusing on that. Please keep us posted on how things develop...good luck, it sounds like a frustrating situation.

 

[lazure]

Are you in a program that has a separate Master's and PhD? If so, quietly plan to do your PhD elsewhere.... Otherwise, do clinical work with the GBLT population and see if you can gain research experience and publications from it. Also, I would advise you not to limit your research to one population - perhaps you can study an issue that is relevant both to GBLT and other populations - access to study samples will determine whether you can do a certain project...

And don't be too hard on yourself about being disappointed in your program...there is no such thing as a satisfied grad student

 

[cmuhooligan]

Are you in a program that has a separate Master's and PhD? If so, quietly plan to do your PhD elsewhere.... Otherwise, do clinical work with the GBLT population and see if you can gain research experience and publications from it. Also, I would advise you not to limit your research to one population - perhaps you can study an issue that is relevant both to GBLT and other populations - access to study samples will determine whether you can do a certain project...

And don't be too hard on yourself about being disappointed in your program...there is no such thing as a satisfied grad student

Unfortunatly my program does not have a separate masters degree, so im here for the long haul! I've been corresponding with a professor that is very big in the feild of GLBT and he agreed to possibly do some collabritive work with me beginning next year, so i think what i may do is change my thesis & dissertation topic to something that is more easily accessable, and something that i can get on-site mentoring with (depression) and then maybe have some side projects later on in GLBT with this professor from another university.

 

[LM02]

You've already gotten some great advice, so I'll try not to be redundant. I agree that it will be a very long haul for you if you try to pursue your own independent line of research in graduate school, without the support and guidance of a faculty mentor.

As someone else suggested above, I wonder if you can pick an area that might have some relevance to your interests in LGBT issues down the road? For example, if there is a faculty member who studies utilization of health care, you could spend your grad school years focused on that. So by the time you get to internship and postdoc, you can expand your specialty to include LGBT populations (i.e., obstacles to healthcare utilization among lesbian groups).

Seeking mentorship outside your program is also a great way to supplement the training that you'll receive at your home institution.

Good luck!